Garden Thefts and Late Night Prowlers
Created by mitzi1960I have been here now for 4 months. In this time I have had two Gnomes taken from my front doorstep and last night I had a big white planter taken from my front garden.
The sad thing about this, is that a lady of 101 years old gave this plant to my son 2 years ago and he has looked after this plant and named it after her.
He is very upset and wants it back.
I can’t afford to keep replacing items to make my garden look nice, but what is scary, is that I am being woken up hearing people in my garden or in neighbour’s gardens very late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
As I live on my own with my son, I don’t want to confront them for fear of repercussions, but I don’t want to be scared of going to bed and living in my home!
It’s a shame that these houses have no gates on the front gardens, if they did we could lock them.
So what the advice? Who do you turn to?
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August 20th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Hi Mitzi,
You have my sympathy. My previous house was a magnet for late night prowlers, burglars and drunken idiots, and I spent the better part of 3 years staying awake until 4:30am and catching up on my sleep in the daytime as best I could… It doesn’t make for a very settled life and is a horrible atmosphere for kids to be around
The Police Report (which I have received and will pass on) should help us to convince the local police to allocate more resources to try to resolve the problem, (although what’s really needed is night-time patrols which they don’t seem to do) and perhaps the relocation of the Gloucester Police Headquarters (to Waterwells) will have an effect on crime in the area in general!
Personally I’m fully in favour of CCTV cameras but don’t see any likelihood of Kingsway being monitored in the near future
I’m afraid that the only advice I can offer is to keep “removable items” in your back garden and try to make that as secure as possible, ‘though it’s a real shame I know
Where I live we have “open plan” front gardens (which I hate) and I am frustrated that so many neighbours watch as their children kick balls all over other people’s gardens and tramp over them to retrieve the ball… The world would be a much nicer place if parents taught their children to have respect for others
August 20th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Thats what I like about Kingsway, people are saying what a nice place it is to live, but some people will steal everything you got if it not tied down. No wonder people seem to want to leave Kingsway.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:30 am
Sadly, your area of the development is not alone with regard to this kind of disturbing behaviour.
I understand completely your fear for safety, and that’s why things are changing for the better since Cllr: Fred Wood took-over our area and wants to hear from us with regard to any issues we have or want raised with other formal agencies to bring about better support for those who are enduring such behaviour. Check out the Gloucester City Council’s Website in order to gain Cllr: Woods Email Address, he will respond to you I assure you; you can equally use the Council’s own Email Address in order to report serious matters that need the group support of numerous agencies, and they too act very promptly to register and act on the concerns you have… heretohelp@gloucester.gov.uk … use this Email Address each time you need to report these concerns and they will receive attention. I would also advise that you report the theft, and or late night intruder concerns to the Police via their Email Address collectively at the same time with the Council, that way both are aware of your reports being made between them both… contact.centre@gloucestershire.police.uk
We should all come together as residents and support each other, and not in-fight with each other which sadly deflects away from the real issues we are trying to obtain support or have addressed by those who are not receiving our displeasure instead. All the time we battle with each other as decent law abiding people – they know they can carry-on with their behaviour without being challenged!
You have my every sympathy. We know personally just how horrible this is to endure, we have suffered this form of ASB for over a year now but from hard work, and communicating with all the right agencies, things are now improving for the better for sure!
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I am sorry to hear about this. It’s one thing to get your pots stolen but another that you feel frightened in your own home!
If it were me personally, next time you hear these low-lives in yours or your neighbours garden, call the police. People may say they won’t do anything but unless people report this they wont know! At least make them aware of it. The more people who report these crimes the better.
I have lived on Kingsway for 5 years and touch wood have never had anything stolen , although I do keep my pots in the back garden. A lot of my neighbours have their pots out the front but I don’t risk it. It’s a shame but I feel it’s a good prevention method.
I hope you get it sorted.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:22 am
How come there are so many thieves incident in Kingsway?
One of my neighbors had some stuff stolen from her garage. Another neighbor is leaving Kingsway because with two little children, they can’t live in that environment (they had staff stolen in their garden too).
The Police already know how rough Kingsway is getting and even the Letting agencies talk about it.
I feel disgusted because I now do regret living here. I even heard that the council is placing, in those ‘council house’, rough people.
That’s why Kingsway is getting worse and worse, it has been populated by ‘animals’.
If Kingsway Developers say it is a nice area to live in, they are just a bunch of liars!
Will someone do something about it?
August 24th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Claudia,
We do understand your anger, frustration & safety concerns… I wouldn’t want to list everything we have suffered or it would look like War & Peace! The ASB we have endured over these past 18 months has been shockingly disturbing. We suffered all the same pressures which recently for the first time are begining to ease.
The only way forward has been our need to list each incident in detail (written & digital images/video evidence) I know it may sound excessive but it is needed. Once you have these different forms of information, e-mail them to those who need it in order to address it…
heretohelp@gloucester.gov.uk
contact.centre@gloucestershire.police.uk
These two areas, once in receipt of your collectively information, will provide support and assistance toward addressing such behaviour. We know it takes time, and sometimes it seems like it will never end or you’re just not being heard. We can only deal with this behaviour if we report it in this way; those who feel they have a strangle-hold over decent people need to be shown that we have had enough!
We have begun to see an ongoing difference, and of course, we hope that difference continues to change things for the better. “See it – Report it!” the only way for us all to see things change.
We can still be a community regardless of reporting those around us for such behaviour – when we don’t because we don’t want to be seen as a “grass” or a “Victor Meldrew” this is playing into the hands of those who feel their behaviour can, and should go without any challenge or you will be portrayed in this fashion. I myself feel that it’s better to live in a community with the same desire as myself in order to be without those who want to make others lives a misery by having the upper-hand over the rest of us who feel unsafe in your home or in public areas. Don’t be afraid to report whoever is causing you ASB, it’s the only way to stop it!
August 26th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Kingway has a lot of Social Housing and I feel that has caused some of the problems.
August 26th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
Well we just had our house valued. I didn’t know whether to cry or vent my anger on the estate agent. Our house has lost over 30k! That’s way more than the average. Some properties in Gloucester are back to their 2007 prices. The estate agent said it’s mainly down to being in Kingsway, it has such a bad reputation that no one wants to move here. She says they are now even having problems letting homes out.
I really don’t know what to do. I’ve looked around the Brockworth housing development and it’s really horrible. Ok the social housing numbers are a lot smaller than Kingsway but I think it’s going to be worse.
I always knew Kingsway was a ****hole from the day I moved in but never this bad. Things are starting to improve though, Gloucester City Homes are now operating with the police an anti ASB order and the police do seem to be more pro-active around here now. All I can say is, crime happens anywhere, you just have to do what you can do to prevent it. Invest in a good house alarm that’s linked to the phone line so you are told what’s going on. Y-cam make a good inexpensive IP camera which alows you to monitor your home from the internet an your Iphone.
Things will only improve here if we all work together and report as much as possible to the police. If you have problems with a neighbour who lives in social housing, contact the Housing Association to sort it, they have to by law! But to be fair, the problems I had have now gone, and most of the residents that are in HA near me are really nice.
August 27th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
G Note,
Sorry to hear your news; it’s sickening isn’t it?
You make some interesting points though: We too had our house valued at a similar loss, however on looking into the rental option we were told that Kingsway is extremely popular. You only have to look at the “LET” boards to see that people are happy to move here.
I think the problems we have with sales at the moment are:
Competition with the new build developers.
Estate Agents opinions of Kingsway.
A general saturation in houses for sale, therefore giving the few buyers out there so much choice and value for money.
When looking at Kingsway, people will still see it as a building site and so prices are naturally going to be affected by this. Of course it doesn’t help that Kingsway has had such poor communication from those who are supposed to be responsible for the area (QUVL etc).
My fear is that until such times as Kingsway is finished and the Council are fully responsible for the area then we are going to feel in limbo as it often appears to me that no one wants to take responsibility for it.
Let’s hope things start to improve sooner rather than later.